Back to Shamballa
by Akolyte of Dark Arts
Summary: How would look Ed's return home after many. What changed back home and how would the people he knows react to changes in his life. This story will have many sad moments, but not a sad ending. EdxRose
1. Chapter 1

** This is my first Fullmetal Alchemist story, maybe it won,t be my last, time will tell. Now about the story, it takes place many years after the events of "Conquerer of Shamballa". I moved the movies time frame a few years forword in our world so it would better fit my concept. i didn't want Ed to be over forty. I may change a few things concerning the movie or the first anime. Also I'm not sure if I should give it a bit of action or make it a drama. Oh well, time will tell.****  
**

* * *

**Chapter I**

It's the year 1946. In a workshop on the outskirts of london a blond-haired man in his mid thirties with golden eyes was working on some strange machine. His name was Edward Elric.

He is a man of a short stature with long hair tied in a braid and a goatee. He also didn't have aright arm and left leg. instead of those he had some kind of mechanical prosthesis. Huge amounts of sweat were dripping down his face. He was working on this machine, that resembled a gateway, like he was on a deadline. He was so focused on his work that he didn't even notice that someone entered his workshop. The intruder was a young girl about then years old. She has long brown hair which part of it are tied into to braids. She also has golden eyes and a lightly darker complexion.

She approached the unsuspecting Edward from behind and hugged him with all her might. The man was a bit spooked. "What is it, Trisha?" He asked the little girl. "Papa, dinner is ready!' The girl said with smile. "Just a moment, I need only to finish one thing and..." "No Papa!" The girl interrupted him and made an angry face. "You only work nowadays. Come! Eat with me!" The man just smiled

and patted the girls head. "Alright, you win. Let's eat." And so they left the workshop for dinner.

The food was simple. A normal vegetable soup, but for him it was exquisite, because it was made by his little girl. They didn't talk much during dinner. Ed was just giving short replies to what ever his daughter was saying and thinking how much does she resemble her mother. After they finished eating Ed looked into his daughter's eyes and asked her. "Do you like living here?" At first she was puzzled. So she replied. Why do you ask Papa?" And he told her that he was thinking to return to his world. And that the machine his working on will help him to do that. In that moment he stopped to collect his thoughts before continuing.

- Although i don't want to force you, if you want to stay, we'll stay.

- If Papa doesn't like here than let's go.

- But we won't be able to comeback.

- That's alright, home for me is were ever you are Papa.

- Trisha...

Edward was on the brink of crying when he heard his daughters words, but stopped from doing so.

He thought to himself. "She saw to many tears, even if those are from joy."

- OK! Time to get back to work!

- No,Papa! You promised to play with me!

- No, I promised to it dinner together and i must finish the machine in three days or it won't work at all.

- OK, Papa, but when you finish you will definitely play with me!

- When I'm done, we'll have all the time you want to play.

And saying that he returned to his workshop.

* * *

Two days later somewhere around midnight he completed his gateway. Although he was tired after such exhausting days of work, he was also happy, but not cause he finished it at least not because of it. He was glad that he finish a day early, so that he had time to say goodbye to them. After locking his workshop tied he went towards

the bedrooms. Before going to bed he checked on his little girl. He was so focused on her sleeping face that he didn't notice a shadowy figure behind the window. "So you actually done it." Whispered the shadow. When Ed turned towards the window the shadow was already gone.

On the next day the father and daughter visited the cemetery. They were standing before two headstones. On one of them was written Noah Elric "a beloved wife and mother". and on the other Alphonse Elric "a beloved brother, uncle and a hero". "This will be the last time we visit you here. Today we are going back home I wish you were here with us. I know you Al would especially want to see Resembool again. Maybe we'll see each other again, but for now goodbye." Ed felt immense sadness just as the first time he said his goodbyes to each of them. With tears in their eyes they left the cemetery to prepare themselves for the journey. Few hours later the Elrics were packed. Ed was dragging two large trunks as well as a big backpack.

- Papa, do we need everything that is inside?

- I just don't want to miss anything important and how about you. Are you packed?

- Yes,Papa!

- Then let's start.

He begun operating his machine. Strange noises and flashes of bright light started coming from it. Finally in the gateway appeared a portal. On the other side of it they could vast fields of green.

"Resembool" he though to himself. He felt hope and joy. He told Trisha to grab his arm cause he couldn't hold, because of the two trunks. And so they ventured inside the portal. Just as they went through the gateway a shadowy figure appeared. The same that was watching them earlier. "So you actually made it, Edward Elric." And with those he followed them through the portal.

* * *

**And so ends the first chapter of my new project. I wonder will I be able to complete at least one of them.**

**And what do you think about this one should I continue it or scrap it.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**I wanted to update earlier, but you know how it is. You have many responsibilities in life and writing fanfic ain't my only hobby as you can see on my profile.  
**

**And to add to it recently I had a cold which wasn't helping me write, but now I'm back. Maybe with your support I'll finish a chapter in a shorter time.  
**

**And now about the chapter itself. This one focuses mainly on the few things that happaned on both sides of the gate since the events of "Conquerer of Shamballa". I hope you all like it, though it will have sad moments through out of the entire story, but I wrote it already in the summary.  
**

* * *

**Chapter II**

A woman with long blond hair tied in a ponytail was walking along a path between a vast field of grass. She was in her mid thirties and very attractive despite the plain clothes she wore, a white shirt and a long red skirt. She was carrying a basket filled with vegetables and other groceries back to her home. Suddenly she stopped and dropped the basket. She could mumble just one word. "Ed?"

She couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her was someone she thought was lost forever, her childhood friend Edward Elric. Without a thought she run towards him. The man was shocked when she hugged him, but in a flash he recognized her. "Winry, is that you?" The woman didn't give an answer, she just hugged him tighter

and shed a tear of joy. It was all he needed to confirm it.

" Papa, who is this Lady." The words of the girl brought the two childhood friends back to reality.

"Papa?" Winry was shocked a bit. "Ah yes! Winry, this is my daughter Trisha. Trisha, you remember how I told you about my friend Winry." The girl just nodded her head and said. "Nice to meet you." With a smile Winry replied "nice to meet you to" and patted the girls head.

"What are we standing here lets go home." Said Winry leading the two towards the Rockbell house, but she was stopped by Ed. "Haven't you forgotten about something?" He pointed at the basket on ground. She quickly picked it up and all three of them went to Winry's place.

When they reached the house it was Ed's time to be surprised. When the door opened a boy about one or two years younger than Trisha, with short blond hair

and wearing overalls came out running and shouting. "Mom!" Winry placed the basket on the ground and took the boy in her arms.

"I wasn't gone for that long Theo. Anyway how is Charlie?" "Fine." Replied the boy. The situation has repeated itself, this time Winry introduced her son to Ed and Trisha. After the brief introduction they all went inside. Winry left her groceries in kitchen and checked on her one year old son that was sleeping soundly. After that she asked Theo to play with Trisha somewhere else, while she will be catching up with Ed. "So where do we start. O yes, where is Al?" Ed didn't know what to say. Winry begun to feel uneasy his grim expression. "Is he alright?" Ed didn't know how to say it so he said it plainly. "Al is dead." Hearing those news Winry nearly bursted into tears, but she stopped herself. She didn't want the kids to she her crying. "How did it happen?" She asked.

And so he begun telling about the great war in the other world. And how they joint the conflict, but not to defeat the enemy. They joined to save lives. He spoke about Al becoming a medic and risking his life on the battlefield countless of times to save wounded soldiers. How he helped the people of the towns and villages where

the fighting took place. He even treated the wounded enemies. And finally reached the moment when Al, while saving the life of one of his brothers in arms, couldn't save his own. Ed didn't say anything more about how he died to spare Winry the pain.

Then Winry interrupted him saying to him with sadness and compassion in her eyes. "But Al wasn't the only one you lost, after all where is the mother of your daughter?" Ed remained silent for while before he started talking again. He started at the very beginning, when he first Noah during the incident with the Thule Society. After the gate was closed on both sides. She traveled together with him and Al as well as helped secure the research of Heinrich. As soon as they collected

and destroyed all the materials containing in formations about the bomb (at least they thought so), they moved to a country known as Great Britain, because of the political instability of the place where they lived. He laughed a bit when he remembered his own stupidity. For many years he was oblivious to the feelings Noah had for him. For quiet some time his mind was focused only on returning here, but one day he lost hope and the person that kept him from falling into darkness was Noah. At that moment he started seeing in her something more than a friend. He decided to stop looking for a way to get back home and instead create a new one with her in that world.

They wanted to spend the first few years of their marriage just the two of them. That was only able for two, cause then was Trisha. Her birth changed their plans, but that didn't disappointed him.

In fact it was the second happiest moment of his life. Unfortunately the happiness didn't last long,

few years later the war begun. At first he wanted to join Al, but a couple of things prevented him from doing that. Mainly it was his lack of some of his own limbs and of course his family. Especially since Noah's health got worse. In that moment Winry stopped him.

- That's enough Ed. You can stop now.

- Why?

- You didn't notice. You started crying.

He wiped his tears with hand and tried to smile to loosen the atmosphere, but he couldn't. So instead he asked Winry. "Speaking of other half's who is the father of this two boys and where is he?"

She felt kind of troubled when the conversation shifted towards her life, but she didn't remain silent.

And so this was her turn to spin the tale. Her story also begins with a loss. After the Elric brothers disappearance she felt very lonely. Of course she had still friends, but those two weren't just friends, they were family. The only person that still made Resembool feel like home was Pinako her grandmother. Though she was a tough one her came after a few years. And now she was all alone.

After her death Winry decided to leave her home to travel. She told herself it was to see places and learn more about automails, but the main reason was cause she didn't want to stay their alone.

She continued with the stories of her travels that took almost four years. Although her stories of how she visited many places in Ametris and even some abroad were interesting, Ed was getting impatient, because it wasn't what he wanted to here. Winry noticed it and decided to go straight to the moment when she met her husband. And it was on one of her visits to central. She was invited for lunch by Sheska. She thought it would be only the two of them, but to her surprise she came with a friend. His name was Ethan West and it happened. It was love at first sight.

- It was probably, because I was lonely, but it doesn't matter now. I'm a happily married woman

and mother.

- I'm happy for you, but you haven,t fully answered me. Where is he now?

- Ah yes with the whole trouble with the new aircraft's I haven't seen him for quite some time.

I hope Führer Mustang isn't to unreasonable.

- What!?

Seeing Ed's reaction made Winry laugh. "Oh right. I forgot to tell you Ethan is a pilot. After you were here the last time, the military became obsessed with flying machines."

Ed shook his head and said. "No, it isn't that. You said Führer Mustang?" Winry was a bit surprised by his words. "I know a lot has changed, just look at us, but is it that he leads the country?"

"Maybe your right, but it still is a major change for me. Although it is good to know the top brass personally. After all I'll be needing some kind of work." Ed's statement made her kind of sad.

- Do you think it's a good idea?

- What do you mean ?

- The Führer isn't the same man you knew. He has indeed changed. Don't get me wrong he is still a good leader, but...

- But what?

- After you left there were some conflicts. I don't no know, if they were us major as the one on which Al died, but he lost many friends on them. Know he a really cold person.

After a moment of thought he said to Winry. "After what you have told me, I don't think we will have a warm reunion, but I still want to meet with him." Hearing that she just smiled and said.

"OK.. And I should probably make new automails for you." "That would be great, but first maybe something to eat and some sleep." She replied with a yes and went to the kitchen leaving alone with his thoughts on the next step in settling back in this world.


End file.
